FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SACRAMENTO RIVER - PAGE 3

The Sports Xchange A's call up Godfrey from minors to start Tuesday's game Graham Godfrey, who began the season as the Oakland A's fourth starter, was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Tuesday and scheduled to start for the A's in Tuesday night's game against the Angels. To make room, the A's sent pitcher Pedro Figueroa to Sacramento. The right-handed Godfrey lost each of his three starts with the A's, and he had a 5.06 ERA before being sent to the Sacramento River Cats on April 21. He went 3-0 with a 1.21 ERA in five starts with the River Cats.

Humphrey the humpback whale again outmaneuvered his would-be rescuers and circled back upriver away from the Pacific Ocean Monday. Exasperated marine biologists temporarily suspended efforts to coax the whale toward the Golden Gate and out of the Sacramento River, where he wandered more than two weeks ago on a migratory side trip. "We will not be herding him today. We will tag and monitor him, but we will not push him anywhere," said a rescue team spokesman, Mitchell Ryan.

Humphrey the wayward whale was "ripping" down the Sacramento River Sunday, heading toward the Pacific Ocean prodded by a flotilla of boats trailed by two 20-ton Army landing craft. The 45-ton whale, variously called Humphrey or E.T., was 38 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge by midday Sunday and proceeding at 3 to 4 knots, said organizers of the rescue effort. "He's ripping," said Jay Ziegler, spokesman for the Whale Rescue Effort. Should no obstacles arise, the whale could arrive in San Francisco Bay by late Monday.

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) - Some farmers and community water districts in drought-hit California could soon face limits on their ability to use water from strained streams that flow into the Sacramento River. The California Water Resources Control Board adopted regulations on Wednesday to limit water use during summer months, the driest season and the time of year when farmers are most likely to need water to irrigate their crops. "Due to severe drought conditions, immediate action is needed," said Dan Schultz, acting program manager with the state Department of Water Resources.

Two wayward whales made it 20 miles back toward the ocean before balking at a Sacramento River bridge and swimming in circles, apparently upset by vibrations from the traffic. Both whales are wounded, apparently from a run-in with a boat's propeller. Coast Guard crews and scientists planned to spend another day on the river banging metal pipes in the water in an effort to coax the whales back toward the Pacific. More than two dozen vessels were slated to join the whale herding operation, including an 87-foot Coast Guard cutter.

The "winning" of the American West was a messy affair during the 19th Century, a period dotted with massacres that still heap shame on man's inhumanity. Six of these massacres are studied in depth by Texas author and bookseller Larry McMurtry in his latest western history, "Oh What a Slaughter: Massacres in the American West 1846-1890" (Simon & Schuster, 192 pages, $25). The main title is taken from a soldier's description of the 1876 Sioux wipeout of George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry, and a painting depicting the Little Bighorn battle decorates the book's dust cover.

"It's like going into somebody else's house and spanking their children." -Makota Kuroda, former Japanese trade negotiator, on the U.S. trade bill including sanctions against Toshiba Corp. for selling sensitive military equipment to the Soviet Union. "I`ve never retired from anything except selling newspapers." -Former heavyweight boxing champion Michael Spinks, on his retirement from the ring. "His campaign jets from place to place, but no issues show up on the radar screen."

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - Snow levels atop California's Sierra Nevada mountains, key indicators of how much water will be available for drought-stricken farms, residents and wildlife this summer, remained precariously low despite recent storms, officials said Tuesday. The snowpack, which melts in the spring and feeds streams and reservoirs throughout the state, has just a third of the amount of water it normally contains this time of year, said Mark Cowin, director of the state Department of Water Resources.

When Spec. Adam G. Kinser was called to active duty in April, he decided on the spur of the moment that he would ask for his childhood sweetheart's hand in marriage. His sweetheart, Tiffany, accepted and they married. Before Kinser shipped out last summer to Afghanistan, his wife became pregnant. The baby is going to be a boy, and Kinser was due to return to Rio Vista, Calif., his hometown on the Sacramento River delta, within weeks of his child's expected birth in May. Kinser, 21, and seven other soldiers were killed Jan. 29, when an arms cache they were guarding exploded near Ghazni, Afghanistan.

Chicago is home to two of the 10 infrastructures in America that Popular Mechanics magazine deems in need of immediate repairs in its May 2008 issue. The magazine's tally of "The 10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now" includes the Circle Interchange and O'Hare, making Chicago the only city -- and Illinois the only state -- with two locations on the list. O'Hare started 2008 exactly where it was at the beginning of 2007 -- the worst airport in the nation for on-time departures and the second worst for arrival delays, according to data released this month by the U.S. Department of Transportation.